Painting a New Muse

The architects’ identities are as yet unknown although the building design is nearly finalised. But what we do know is that the new premises will be spacious enough to display all 25,000 pieces of DG Kelkar’s collection,and not just the 2,500 items competing for space in their current habitat.

There is tremendous creative scope when it comes to building a museum. Architecture plays a crucial role in setting the bar for the cultural heirlooms within. A museum’s lines and contours have to both reflect its modern ambition and flatter its wealth of historical art and artefacts,all without appearing foolishly inflated.

This is a challenge even for the most skilled of architects,and that’s why fantastic constructions like the Denver Art Museum in Colorado,US,are often accused of upstaging the “real” art in their corridors. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao,Spain,was birthed by architect Frank Gehry in 1997 and became a landmark for radical museum design. So much that the term “Bilbao effect” was coined to refer to a museum’s appearance overshadowing its contents.

Given that India’s most prominent galleries represent a mix of colonial,classical,Hindu and Islamic styles,a modernist avatar would be most welcome in Museum 2000. How far will the state government grant of Rs 73 crore go?

And then,of course,there is the matter of technology. The emergence of virtual gallery tours and Google Art Project has reminded us that culture is becoming more democratic and accessible. Any new players in the field — or old ones in new guise — might want to consider not only how a certain display will look in the slanting light from the window,but also to a scholar studying it through a live feed thousands of miles away.

Yet despite the decline of attention spans and expansion of the Internet,and the dignified pages of Encyclopaedia

Britannica being beaten down into a flimsy disc — the solidity and permanence of a well-curated objet d’art cannot be usurped by technology.

This is why a mammoth Museum City (the PMC’s name for this project) is very relevant to the times. Lest we forget that we are still firmly in the era of brick-and-mortar halls of history,and that some things can’t be replaced or forgotten — they can only be polished and improved. The old dog has a long,long life — but it might yet learn a few new tricks.

(The author is a chess grandmaster and former national champion)